Billboard Hot 100

The dog days are indeed over for Florence and the Machine. Her much-heralded performance at the MTV Video Music Awards has helped give the 24-year-old singer-songwriter her first Billboard top 30 hit single.

Muscle-bound R&B singer Jay Sean has become the first British male solo artist since James Blunt in March 2006 to top the Billboard Hot 100. “Down,” his collaboration with rapper Lil Wayne, ends the extraordinary …

When the last British female solo artist topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, Maggie Thatcher was beginning her third term as UK Prime Minister, the Berlin Wall was still standing, the first Lethal Weapon movie was a huge hit, …